Investment Associate – Octopus Australia

This is an opportunity to join the Octopus Australia team in our Melbourne office. The successful applicant will be able to join the Octopus Investments Australia team on their mission to accelerate Australia's transition to a future powered by renewable energy.

We are looking for an Investment Associate, reporting to a senior member of the investment team at Octopus Australia. This exciting role will work across renewable investment and development opportunities to build and shape our future portfolio.

As a member of the investment team, the successful candidate will help deliver on our M&A and deployment ambitions across all renewable technologies.  The successful candidate will get to play an active role on transactions across different technologies and jurisdictions in Australia broadening your skillset and capabilities. 

You will be a forward-thinking person who is inquisitive in nature and is comfortable working in the detail and pivoting to a portfolio view.  Just as important as what you achieve in this role, is how you perform the role. We’ll need you to be an engaged team member, who can cross pollenate your experiences and capabilities into an investment and development world with both internal and external stakeholders. Be ready for a dynamic work environment, with a start-up mindset. You’ll be encouraged and supported to be bold in your thinking and leadership, whilst being a helpful colleague to those around you.

About Octopus Group

Octopus Group is one of the largest owners of renewable energy projects in Europe and Australia. It owns some 260 assets, on behalf of wholesale and institutional investors. Domestically, Octopus Australia is responsible for managing over $1 billion of assets for local and international investors.

Octopus Australia

Established in 2018, Octopus Australia is a dynamic multi-disciplinary team of over 55 highly skilled people which spans the expertise required to realise and operate a renewable energy and storage portfolio.

With an existing multi-GW portfolio of operating and development assets, including solar, wind and utility scale battery storage across the country. We are continuing to grow to create a long-term business that can deliver a firmed energy product, one that can meet the needs of Australia’s energy future.

About the Role

The successful candidate will be expected to be able to demonstrate the following:

• Renewable Energy Industry; Understanding and interest in the Australian energy sector.
• Deal Process; Understanding of M&A deal processes, demonstrating ability to be involved across multiple work streams with internal and external stakeholders or advisors.
• Team Work; Strong verbal communicator and demonstrated ability to be a key member of a team.
• Financial Modelling; Financial modelling experience, able to assess risks and bankability of projects and update/build financial models.
• Investment Committee/ Board Reporting; Strong communication skills and proven ability to effectively present ideas within the team and support writing investment committee papers for senior management.

Qualifications

Outline of skills/experience required

• Prior relevant experience ideally in an investment bank, private equity house, or in a corporate finance team of one of the big 4 accountants
• Professional financial qualifications (accountancy, CFA/CA) and/or MBAs desirable but not essential.
• Eligibility to work in Australia – visa sponsorship is not offered.
• Core finance related business skills required:
  • A commercial mindset, able to present conclusions and recommendations on investment decision making and articulate the impact of these decisions on potential investments.
  • Strong written and verbal communication.
  • Strong project management and organisational skills. The role will require balancing complex and regularly changing workloads and priorities in a fast-paced environment.
  • Strong financial modelling and risk analysis.
• Ability to communicate with a broad range of individuals, ranging from team members and external advisors/partners.
• A team player with the confidence to engage and work with colleagues at all levels of seniority.
• A self-starter with tenacity, initiative, and a strong desire to succeed and be part of a team environment,

And to really stand out from the crowd, you will display the following qualities and characteristics:

• Self-motivated with the ability to work in a fast paced environment with support to develop and grow.
• Communicates in a straightforward way, effective at giving feedback while open to receiving it
• Able to find and create opportunity, develop solutions to problems.

What we offer

• 💰 A competitive salary package including bonus and medical insurance benefits
• ✈️ Extra Annual Leave entitlement
• Ongoing learning and career development opportunities

Octopus has built an exciting and inclusive high-performance culture where employees feel empowered. We also understand the value of diversity, and we are dedicated to creating an inclusive workplace environment. We would welcome people of all backgrounds to apply. 

Our Values 

At Octopus we don’t just focus on what we do but also how we do it. Everyone to shares our values of being straightforward, helpful, and bold. Our culture is critical to our success and is built around three principles that underpin how we pursue our goals:

• Be Bold – We like people who make decisions quickly and are OK changing their mind if it turns out there’s a better way of doing things.
• Be Helpful – We like People who behave like it always day one and who remember without our customers there is no business.
• Be Straightforward – We like people who have opinions and express them in a way that’s respectful and easy to understand.